Brazilian town fines Vale, closes port terminal in Rio de Janeiro state

The town of Mangaratiba, in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state, fined miner Vale SA and closed its iron ore port terminal on Monday, citing pollution problems and the alleged lack of an operating license.

The city’s environment department fined Vale for 30 million reais ($8 million) and closed the Ilha da Guaiba terminal for the second time this year. In a statement, Mayor Alan Costa said Vale needs to “comply with environment laws.”

Mangaratiba had closed the terminal briefly in January, after a mining disaster at a Vale facility in another state that killed hundreds, before reopening it.

Around 40 million tonnes of iron ore go through Vale’s Ilha da Guaiba terminal yearly, according to Brazil’s port regulator.

In a statement, Vale said it was notified by the city and had “all necessary licenses to operate the port terminal.”

The company added that it would take adequate measures to resume the port operation but it did not elaborate.